Of Spades and Jokers
by Jet Set Radio Yoyo
Summary: When the Queen of Spade, Arthur Kirkland, saves a Joker child from drowning he didn't expect the Joker boy and his teacher to suddenly become a permanent part of his life. Jokers are supposed to bring bad luck, but maybe these two Jokers can bring Arthur the happiness and love that he has been missing in his life. Cardtalia, yaoi Couple: Prussia X England.


**Of Spades and Jokers**

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

**Couples: Prussia X England, past America X England, and possible other couples.**

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Spades is a strange kingdom. It was a kingdom that was always trying to move forward in the field of science and magic. It was always considered the land of inventers and no matter how ridicules an idea might seem no one in Spades would mock an inventor for at least trying to create something new. However, Spades was also a place that clung to its past. Old superstitions were believed by everyone, festivals that have been around since the beginning of time where still celebrated even though the meaning behind most of the festivals had long since been forgotten, and many of the traditions of the past were still followed.

One of the traditions that where still followed was the way in which the Jack, King, and Queen of the kingdom was selected. Spades had three clocks that had been with the kingdom since the day Spades was created. Legend goes that the clocks belonged to the first rulers of Spade. The rulers of the kingdom helped create it and they lead their new kingdom through a long period of peace. However, the rulers where not immortal and as they grew to an old age they feared for the future of their kingdom. So to make sure that their kingdom would always have good rulers they used their magic to enchant the three clocks and made it so that they would always be able to locate the rulers of Spade.

If one of the rulers died then the clock assigned to that ruler would just lead them to the person who was meant to replace them. So this meant that in a way it was the clocks that choose the Queen, King, and Jack. It's around this point of the story that people start to debate about the story, or to be more specific they debate over how the clocks work. Everyone knows that the clocks choose someone who was born and live in Spades to become one of the three rulers, but no one really knew how this was decided.

Did the clocks pick a person based of their intelligence? Are they chosen because of their magic abilities? Is it a mixture of reasons? No one really knew, but the most popular theory was that it was fate itself who choose the rulers. The chosen rulers of Spade where fated to be leaders, it was their destiny.

You can't fight destiny, or at least that was the mindset that most people in Spades had. Spades had been using the clocks to find their rulers for centuries now and so far they had been doing well. All of the rulers that Spade has had up to this point had been generally good rulers and Spades had spent most of its time living in peace. For the people of Spades being chosen to be a Jack, King, or Queen was just destiny taking its course and the chosen ruler should be honored to have such a position. While it was a bit of a strange system to choose their rulers it worked and most of the people of Spades thoughts toward it were 'Well, it's not broken so don't fix it'.

However, there was one person in Spades who thought it was broken. This person was the current Queen of Spades, Arthur Kirkland, and he hated the clocks and he hated fate for giving him the position of Queen….

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If there was one thing that the Queen of Spade was good at it would be sneaking. To be more specific it would be sneaking out of the castle. Arthur almost never left the castle; the only time he ever really got to leave the castle walls was when he went to another kingdom to improve relations or for the yearly Spade festival the celebrated the creation of the Spade kingdom. Arthur hated being cooped up in the castle, but they never let him leave to go into the town unless he brought what amounted to a small army with him so about once or twice a month he would try to sneak out of the castle and into the capital of Spades by himself. It took a lot of trial and error when it came to figuring out different escape tactics, but it was worth it just to have even an hour were he could wonder around the city and at least pretend that he was not the Queen of the country.

Today was the day that he was going to pull his monthly escape and he was completely prepared. He was dressed up in his plain clothes and his simple black cloak. These cloths made him look like a simple traveler and they would help him blind into the crowd. Arthur couldn't help but admire himself in the mirror as he wore his disguise.

"It's just too bad that I don't have my clock…." Arthur murmured to himself as he looked at the mirror.

Yes, Arthur did not have the Queen's clock. He had been denied the clock when the council and the current Jack, Yao Wang, discovered Arthur's reluctance at being the Queen. They didn't think much about it, there had been rulers in the past who had tried to ignore the call of the throne before but they eventually settled down. Yao said Arthur would get the clock one he had 'settled down'. Needless to say that had yet to happen, and Arthur really had no clue on where they kept the clock.

If he had it he could make it so that he would never be found. Arthur just shook the thought out the clock out of his head and made his way out of his room. Arthur had to take the halls of the castle that where less traveled, and he had to doge and hide in rooms whenever a guard or maid passed by but he was finally able to make it out of the castle and past the castle walls. The second he was passed the walls Arthur could not help but smile. It was a warm spring day and their where so many people out and about in the capital of Spades.

Arthur quietly slipped into the crowed and just started to wonder around the town. He had no specific destination and he just went wherever his feet took him. Eventually after walking around for an hour he finally ended up at the docks. There was a gentle breeze blowing and Arthur just closed his eyes and let out a small sigh of content. However, Arthur was broken out of his relaxing moment when he heard a practically loud splashing and the sounds of people yelling something that Arthur couldn't quite make out.

Arthur turned to the noise only to see a small group of people gathered around on an empty dock. He could also see something splashing in the water near the dock, but Arthur couldn't really tell what it was from where he was standing. Arthur quickly made his way over to the crowd and once he was their he pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Once he was in the front of the crowed he looked into the water only to gasp what he saw. A small boy was desperately trying to keep afloat, but it was obvious that the kid couldn't swim to save his life. Arthur quickly took a step toward the edge of the dock only to have someone grab his arm.

Arthur looked back only to see that an old woman had grabbed a hold of him.

"Don't save him, you'll be cursed!" The woman hissed.

"I'm not going to let a boy drown!" Arthur shouted at her.

"That's not a boy, it's a demon!" The woman cried out.

Arthur said nothing to that he just shook the woman's grip off of him before he dived into the water and swam toward the boy. The second that Arthur got close to the boy the child instantly clung onto him. It was a little hard to swim with a child clinging onto him and his cloak was completely soaked though and was making it even harder to swim. However, Arthur just dealt with it and swam back towards the dock all while trying to keep the boy's head above water. Arthur was able to pull himself and the boy up onto the dock, and he couldn't help but glare at the crowed as they just stood there and whispered to each other.

Arthur looked over at the boy he just rescued to see if he was alright only to get a surprising sight. The boy was wearing a black cap that had cat like ears on them and a little black angry looking cat like pin attached to it. Some of the boy's bright blond hair peaked out from underneath the cap and the boy had thick eyebrows that were rather similar to Arthur's eyebrows. The boy's bright blue eyes were wide open and gazing right into Arthur's emerald green eyes. The boy was wearing black pants, a black jacket, a red shirt, and a red handkerchief around his neck.

However, Arthur was not really paying attention to the boy's strange outfit, his large eyebrows, or his so very bright blue eyes. No, Arthur was paying attention to the fact that the boy had a long demon like tail that was slowly swinging from side to side. The second that Arthur saw the boy's tail it finally hit him, he had just saved a Joker. It was no wonder that the old woman was saying that he was a demon. Jokers where considered to be demons in the kingdom of Spade.

It was said that Jokers would cause natural disasters, kidnap children, and bring people bad luck. They were said to be terrifying monsters with demon tails, bat like wings, and sharp teeth. However, this kid did not fit the mental image that Arthur had of Jokers. Honestly, other than the fact that the boy had a tail he looked like a normal boy. Arthur continued to stare at the boy, but he could hear the crowed murmuring quietly in the background.

"He actually saved a Joker." One woman whispered.

"That man is cursed now…" An elderly man said.

"He should have let the demon die. Someone should toss it back into the ocean." One man commented.

The Joker child flinched slightly when he heard the man say that and Arthur couldn't help but scowl slightly at the comment. Joker or not Arthur was not going to let anyone kill a child. Arthur just ignored the crowed and instead looked at the young Joker.

"Are you ok lad?" Arthur asked softly.

The young boy nodded his head and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could even say a word someone shouted out "Your majesty!" Arthur quickly turned around a looked toward the sound of the voice.

The crowd had parted to reveal Yao standing there with about five guards. Yao had an annoyed look on his face and he was holding the Queen's clock. Yao was holding the clock at an angle so Arthur could see that the hour, second, and minute hand where pointing right at him. Arthur scowled a bit before he stood up and faced Yao. Yao walked toward Arthur and let out a loud sigh.

"Your majesty I really wish you would stop this." Yao said.

"Yeah well if wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Arthur said.

Yao just rolled his eyes and grabbed Arthur's wrist before he started to pull Arthur along.

"Come now your majesty, we are going back to the castle." Yao said.

The guards quickly formed a circle around Yao and Arthur and kept the crowed from getting close.

"Wait, what about the boy?" Arthur asked.

"What boy?" Yao said.

Arthur looked back to the spot where the boy had been sitting only to see that he was gone. The small crowed that had gathered around must have been just as distracted as Arthur because they quickly broke out into a frenzy of chatter. Most of them were asking where the Joker child has disappeared to, but Arthur heard one elderly man yelling that the kingdom was doomed because Arthur saved a Joker. Arthur just rolled his eyes at that comment and he was about to turn his attention toward Yao, but then he quickly noticed a man standing near the crowd. The man was holding the Joker boy that Arthur had saved and he was dressed up in black pants, black jacket, and a red shirt.

The man had white hair and two little fuzzy ears. Or maybe they were horns; to be honest Arthur couldn't tell what they were. The man also had a demon tail that was slowly swinging from side to side. The man looked at Arthur with his ruby red eyes and smiled. However, the second that Arthur blinked the man and the child where gone.

"Your majesty, what are you looking at?" Yao asked.

"Nothing." Arthur said "It's just my imagination running wild…."

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**Ok, so that's chapter one. Info time!**

**If wishes were horses, beggars would ride: Don't know how many people have heard this, so I'll explain it. It is can be used to mock a wishful attitude by pointing out the uselessness of wishing. It can also be used to say that whishing is worthless and it's only though by working for it do you actually get it. So long story short it's basically saying 'there is no point in wishing for things because that alone won't make the wish come true'.**

**Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible so please review and don't flame. **


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